US dramatically shrinks Guantanamo prisoner population to 15 men [View all]

Source: Reuters

January 06, 2025 8:01 PM
By Reuters

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration slashed the prisoner population at Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba by nearly half on Monday, sending 11 detainees to Oman.

The U.S. military said only 15 detainees remained there after the transfer, following a major push toward closing the facility by Biden's administration in its final days in office.

The detention center was first opened on Jan. 11, 2002, by President George W. Bush to hold terrorism suspects and "illegal enemy combatants" during the U.S. "War on Terror" following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

Guantanamo Bay housed roughly 680 prisoners at the detention center's peak in 2003, according to Pentagon data.

The latest transfer of the 11 men, all of whom are from Yemen, leaves the U.S. naval base in Cuba with fewer detainees than when it opened with the arrival of prisoners from Afghanistan.

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